Anti-Social
by iPhone iNsomniac
Summary: The early life of Tom Riddle and of Harry Potter was very similar, led to two very different outcomes. However, what if instead of developing a complex about killing people or saving them, it was one about simply avoiding them? And just because I am tired of the name Harry, its a Fem!Harry story, with a couple other AU elements thrown in to spice things up. T for now, maybe M later
1. Chapter 1

**Ok, I got the first inspiration for this story from both _Beyond the Pale _by Araceil and _When Darkness Sings _by the Spirit of the Shrine. Both good story ideas, though one has been abandoned and the other hasn't been updated since February 2014. I liked the idea of an apathetic Harry, and one who gets along spiders is pretty cool too. I thought about it, and after that harrowing experience, this story came out differently. It will have a Female Harry, mainly because I am tired of reading the name Harry allllllll the frikkin time, and some other changes, in magic and in people. Ok, I have blabbered enough, lets get started.**

**—**

At Number Four, Privet Drive, the Dursley family was finishing up with dinner. "Lovely, as always Pet," stated Vernon Dursley with a sigh, relaxing his rather large bulk back into his chair at the table for a moment before standing up and heading into the living room to turn on the television. "Yeah, steak is great!" exclaimed a blond-haired boy well on his way to matching his father in appearance said as he followed.

Petunia Dursley fairly glowed with pride as her family left the room, bustling around to clean up the dishes left from the meal, save for a wrapped portion sitting on top of the microwave. She debated for a moment, then wrote a note and left it beside the wrapped food. Yes, she had the perfect life. Her husband was doing well in his career, her son was growing up strong and was popular among his peers, and that girl stayed well out of the way. Life was good.

—

I lay quietly, simply enjoying the stillness, the silence, the peace. I waited a few minutes more, before opening my eyes. Only the barest rays of moonlight managed to find their way through both the windows and the cracks in the door of my cupboard, but I didn't mind. This was _my _space. My power was woven through it, and I was aware of everything within my web. I smiled up at the spiders sharing the space with me. I knew from my readings, and early attempts to force me into primary school, that normal girls usually hated and feared them, but why should I? I wasn't a normal girl. Normal girls hated and feared me as well. And it was from spiders that I had learned so much about my power, so I didn't care what anyone else thought. These spiders were my only companions, the only ones who wanted me, and the only ones I would allow in return.

With a thought, I sent a small greeting through the strands of my web connected to theirs, and I felt the closest equivalent to a response they could offer reverberate back. I knew spiders weren't intelligent enough to understand a greeting, but I liked to think that my power had affected them a bit, granting them understanding in return for the understanding they had given me. I stood up, and began changing out of the old nightgown I slept in. I still remembered the time I wore it outside and someone saw me. The rumors of a ghost took a while to die down.

Now clad in a black cotton sweatshirt and jogging pants, I slipped on my comfortable tennis shoes, and as I opened the door, I checked my web. Since I put it in place, it had remained strong, though I had never left it since so I had no real inkling of what might happen should I leave. By now, it stretched throughout the house and over the yard, and I needed only touch a strand of it with my power to feel anything touching it. Coincidentally, I had several strands set up around all of the Dursley beds.

I headed into the kitchen, grabbing both my food and list of chores for the night. Chores were much more fair around the Dursley home these days, and as I walked back to eat in my cupboard, I reminisced on how it began. On the day I discovered my power, and with it, so much more.

_Social Services meant the Dursleys had to send me to school. Naive child that I was, I thought that any time away from my lovely home slavery- er, life - could only be for the better. So I endured Uncle Vernon's rant that lasted an hour and was basically just No Freakishness!, and held on to hope as I entered the small classroom with the other children. Unfortunately, I had been called referred to as simply "girl" when one of the Dursley adults deigned to speak to me, and introducing myself as such to other children only led to scorn and ridicule. Things only got worse when the teacher scolded me for my introduction, and as I tried to explain why I didn't know my own name, Dudley quickly took his chance to both accuse me of lying, and to mock me as too stupid to remember my own name. Amidst the laughter of the other children, and the disapproval of the teacher, the last hope I held for the "goodness of humanity" crumbled. _

_That day, I came home in tears, but not of sadness, as the Dursleys found out when they gathered in the living room to mock me. I screamed and shouted at them instead, angered that they would cause me to humiliate myself like that. As Uncle Vernon purpled in rage and reached out to grab me, I felt something rise up from within me, and it too reached out, and somehow caught Uncle Vernon's hand, but it didn't stop there. I felt it continue to flow, out of me and settling around Uncle Vernon before pulling tight, all in a second, and suddenly Uncle Vernon fell, arms and legs ramrod straight by his sides, only his eyes fairly bulging out with distress as my power bound every other inch of his body._

A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips, and as I was alone, I let the emotion express itself for a moment before taking my dishes back to the kitchen. Taking one final sip of my tea, I began the first of my chores, loading the dishwasher, before continuing my reminiscing.

_Since that disastrous first day, the tone for school was set. Though the Dursleys looked at me with fearful eyes now, as Vernon was paralyzed well into the night, they feared Social Services as well, and I was still forced to go. The children ostracized me, and Dudley's efforts had not been in vain, for the teacher now firmly believed me to be "one to watch out for." My anger built. When I discovered my efforts at flipping avidly through simple books Dudley ignored enough for me to take gave me an advantage on reading, and only I and the boy beside me scored perfectly on the first test, the teacher immediately started to question me, claiming that while he knew the other boy was intelligent, he seriously doubted a girl who didn't know her own name could get a perfect score on her first reading test honestly, my anger turned to fury. When I refused to "be honest," he questioned me, and when I answered correctly, he simply flushed and turned away. My anger turned to contempt. When the next test came, I filled in every question save one, and I knew they were all correct. The only thing missing was a name. When he handed them back the next day, stating one paper had no name and thus received no grade, I received only a glare, and I felt nothing for such a petty man. It showed, and he openly scowled. That was the day I realized that giving them nothing was the only way to deny them everything._

I sighed as I closed the dishwasher, turning it on as I headed next to the laundry room, and my next chore.

_As I turned in paper after paper that would have undoubtedly received a high score, had I not refused to claim them as my own, I received scolding after scolding as well. When the teacher told me to put my name on it before I handed it in, I told him it wasn't mine, that it was simply lying on the floor. When he stood over me during the test, I was momentarily stumped, before I carefully spelled every answer… backwards. For a moment he simply looked confused, but then it changed to understanding, and fury. He yelled, and I simply stared. He ordered me out of the classroom, and threatened me with parent conferences. I still said nothing._

_When the Uncle Vernon found out, he screamed and spit at me until I grew annoyed. Then the power rose again, and suddenly he was still shouting, but no sound emerged. Aunt Petunia screamed when she realized what had happened, but only for a second. Then she was silent too. Uncle Vernon took a step towards me. I raised an eyebrow, and his feet were stuck to the ground. In the sudden silence, I said, "I don't want to go to school. I will not go anymore."_

Finished with the laundry, I grabbed the broom and dustpan, as well as the mop and bucket. The gentle scrape of the broom began, soft and steady, adding to the atmosphere without breaking it. I fell into a rythym, enjoying my peace as I continued to relive how I had earned it.

_Within a month, I was being homeschooled. Of course, it was simply me with my books, studying and filling out the required work either in my cupboard or outside. Aunt Petunia was quite clearly terrified of me, but would still yell at me if I was in the same room. Luckily for me, the work came easily, and when I was finished I had time to practice with my power. Less fortunately, came no where near as easily as it had when I faced Uncle Vernon. For a while I was stumped, and began to think it only worked on my family (not that I would have been too upset, but still), but one day I was attempting to use it yet again, when I saw a spider spinning a web. I watched it as its legs worked, reaching down to the tiny spinneret before pulling out the silk, coiling out and out, the other legs working to place it as the silk just kept flowing from it. When the spider stopped moving, it took me a moment to realize why. Then I realized _I _was why. My power had unspooled as well, and was touching the spider._

I stepped outside, and took a deep breath. This. The moonlight shining down, the soft hum of nature around me, the sent of dew growing on the grass… this was something to live for. I had few of those things, but how wonderful they were! With my web, I could feel it as well. All the little animals bumping it, and all the plants it touched. Even the wind as it flew through it caused a reaction, though it was slight. I bent down to weed, not at all unhappy to be out on such a gorgeous night.

_Thus began a period of experimentation, and discovery. As I grew, I learned what I could get the Dursleys to agree to, both with my power and by doing things for them, like continuing some of my chores. I learned to consciously draw on my power, and to do more things with it, such as my web, mostly by observing spiders. It worked the first time, and it continued to do so. _

_I also experimented with people, and society. Those experiments yielded less pleasant results. Children were stupid brats most of the time. Even when they started off seeming nice, the second things went wrong, they all turned on me. Adults were deceitful. Masks upon masks, some so perfect that I likely would have fell for them had I not been 'raised' by the Dursleys', whose entire life was devoted to maintaining a mask of normalcy. They were also nosy, and controlling. They always wanted something from me, particularly information. Always asking…_

A light sweat had built up by the time I was finished, but I felt good. Simple work like this, a simple life without having to bother with all the bureaucracy and gossip of _society. _People are idiots, and they force their idiocy upon all of those born into so-called _civilization. _There is nothing civil about the great majority of them. Sighing, I went inside to participate in one of the most heinous institutions of society: boring-as-sin homework.

_Eventually, I grew tired of having to always having to deal with people. So I spent more and more time awake during the night and early mornings, when others were more likely to sleep, and I less likely to have to deal with them. The less I dealt with them, the more peace I had. Eventually, I decided to never deal with other human beings if at all, beyond absolute necessity. Unsurprisingly, the Dursleys had no problem with that…_

Having finished all of my work, I had time for myself now. I sat down at the foot of the sole tree growing in the yard, and I reached out with my magic. I joined with with my web, and through it, with the very web of life. My face involuntarily split in a grin as my magic danced with the magic within all of the living things around me. The plants glowed with a soft green that flowed slowly throughout there length, even and calm, with pools of brighter light reaching towards the light. My magic touched those pools, and, so used to the touch were they, the plants sprouted new buds, which quickly grew into full leaves or bloomed into deep, lovely blossoms. Fireflies dance through the air, forming patterns and glowing in an orchestrated light show with my magic as the conductor, touching each little spark of orange and causing them to glow yellow as my magic fed their bioluminescence. And as the dawn broke across the sky in streaks of peach and lavender, I looked about myself, and thought that indeed, life is good.

Little did I know, that shortly would my peaceful, beautiful life be utterly disrupted.

**Ok, mostly just showing what her life was like. Next time, the story starts for real.**


	2. Chapter 2

The day the first letter came, Dudley was sent to get the mail, before he sat down to finish his breakfast with his parents. Afterwards, going through the mail before heading to work, Vernon's eyes momentarily narrowed in confusion before a look of dawning horror grew across his face. Waving his wife over frantically, he passed her the letter and watched a similar expression grow on her face as well. With obvious fear in her voice, she asked, "What do we do, Vernon?"

Pondering it for a moment, he spoke with the decisiveness that had earned him his latest promotion when he declared, "Nothing, Pet. We just throw it out, pretend we never saw the thing. Besides, you know how _she _is. Already told us she wants nothing to do with anyone else, so I say we are just doing what she would have anyways."

With a thoughtful look, Petunia nodded in agreement. The letter was thrown into the fireplace (must remember to tell the girl to clean it tonight), Vernon went to work, Dudley went out to visit his friends, and Petunia headed to her book *cough-gossip-cough* club. The letter was put out of mind with the ease of long practice.

Until another letter was pushed through the slot the next day.

Petunia and Vernon discussed it once more, and once more, the letter was thrown into the fire, though with slightly more trepidation. The letter was once more ignored, until later that night, Dudley noticed something fall down the chimney into the fireplace. When he pulled it out and it turned out to be a letter addressed to _the girl, _he gaped for a moment before yelling for his parents. This time, Vernon carefully shredded it beyond recognition before shoving it deep into the trash bin. The Dursleys had a rather tense evening.

When the next day's mail came, and there was no unexpected letter that day, the relief was palpable. The family relaxed, right up the trash bin fell over without being touched. Then the relief was quickly dispelled, as instead of garbage, letters spilled out of the the bin. All of them bore the same distinct seal, a large, stylized **H **on a background with four animals. The Dursley's stared in abject shock at the letters, right up until they heard a sound that was cause for anxiety on any day and sheer terror on this one. It was the distinctive series of clicks accompanied by the rattling of a chain as the locks on the cupboard under the stairs opened. The entire Dursley family was seated at the table, and those locks opened from the _outside._

—

I came awake with a jolt. My web wasn't humming with the light touches of the Dursley's passing through it as they carried on with their lives. Instead, it thrummed with a rythym I had never felt before. I flooded my power into it, and found that rather than simply carrying echoes along it, a few strands connected to the kitchen were actually _vibrating, _as if something had actually touched it as opposed to simply passing through. This bore further investigation, and though I could feel that the Dursleys were also in the kitchen, I decided that interacting with them would be worth it since they were present for whatever had happened. With barely a thought, I tugged on the strands attached to the locks on my door with the ease of long habit, before opening the door and heading towards this new mystery.

I found my relatives (or so they said, I really didn't see it) obviously waiting for me, if the apprehensive gazes that immediately latched onto me were any indication. Those gazes quickly turned to disgust as they focused on my hair, which confused me slightly. My hair never seemed to tangle, and I do take a shower every night, so what was the problem? My answer came in the feeling of something moving, and when I tilted forward and the black curtain of my hair fell forward, I saw the spider that had apparently decided to spend the day there. While normally I wouldn't consider the Dursleys' opinion any reason to inconvenience the spider, I needed them to cooperate, and I didn't particularly like having to use my gift for threatening people as dull as my relatives, so I carefully used a single strand of my power to return the little creature to my cupboard before pulling it back and turning to address the remaining occupants of the house.

"What is going on? Don't bother lying, I felt something happen," I said softly, my voice rusty from disuse, and I saw the expressions of unease that had appeared when I used my power turn to fear as they all involuntarily glanced at the pile of letters. Petunia, in particular, seemed to harbor an intense mixture of terror and loathing. I reached out with a strand of my power and stuck it to one of the letters before retracting it, bringing the letter along and into my hand before I raised it up to read:

_Ms. G. Potter_

_The Cupboard Under the Stairs_

_4 Privet Drive_

_Little Whinging_

_Surrey_

This was enough to cause my eyebrows to shoot up. Whoever sent this letter actually knew I existed, and even more, they knew my name! The few neighbors who were once aware of my existence likely forgot, save old Ms. Figg, who used to babysit me and still would ask the occasional question about "little Gwen." Her cats were cool though. The energy within them felt brighter, yet also had a strange feeling of intelligence and refinement beyond other cats I touched with my power. Outside of her, I knew of no one who would be sending me letters. But I knew how to find out.

"Explain." I demanded softly, looking straight at Petunia, sure that she at least had some idea of the letter's origins. Nothing else could cause such a personal reaction. The slight flash of guilt in her eyes before she forced a protesting Dudley out of the house only added to my certainty, and I settled down in the living room to listen to my aunt's story as Vernon left for work.

—

"… and now I expect you will go off to that school, learn how to turn teacups into rats or the like, and come back even stranger than you already are!"

Petunia's face was bone white by the time she was threw, and I took a few moments to sift through the bitterness and vitriol for the relevant parts before I spoke. "Not in particular, it sounds like those wizards have a _society _as well, and I want no part of that. I am quiet happy as I am, though I admit I do like knowing there was a reason you always disliked me, even if it is a stupid one. Honestly, I never even knew my mother, why would you hold anything about her against me? Besides, I have already done so much work in school, why would I want to throw that away? No, I think I will refuse," and with that, I grabbed a pen, scribbled out a quick rejection at the bottom of the letter before replacing it in the envelope, all the while ignoring the lovely fish imitations Petunia was doing.

Standing, I recalled the part about an owl, and connected to my web to search the area. I went outside, and as I knew it would be, there was an owl sitting on the fence. Its inner magic (apparently that was what my power was officially called… meh) held that strange sense of intelligence, much like Ms. Figgs cats, and when it hooted at me, I was almost certain it implied impatience in its tone. I approached carefully, and when it extended its leg, I saw the strap on it that confirmed for me that I was supposed to use it to reply. With some difficulty, I got the letter attached, and watched the bird wing away. Then I went back inside. I enjoyed watching sunrises, but I am far too pale to stay out long under the sun and _not _burn. Besides, its the middle of the day. I should be in bed.

—

Professor Minerva McGonagall reached for the next letter in the stack of responses to the Hogwarts letters sent out for the incoming first years. She was slightly surprised when she saw it was returned in the same envelope it was sent in. She immediately focused all of her attention on it when she noticed that this was one of the letters sent to Gwen Potter. Her surprise turned to confusion when she found the original letter inside, which turned to shock when she read the words scrawled at the bottom, before she rose from her desk. The Headmaster needed to be informed of this unforeseen development.

Albus Dumbledore was having a good day before his deputy burst into his office before he could call out his typical welcome. Before she even spoke, her expression tipped him off that whatever had happened, it was not going to contribute to his good day. However, when she told him Gwen Potter had rejected her acceptance to Hogwarts, he actually felt a little relieved. It was obvious, to him at least, that the girl was being forced to do so by her muggle relatives. While it wasn't expected, it was by no means an unfortunate development. He would simply go with his backup of sending Hagrid to retrieve the girl. He would need to brief Hagrid on some things useful to convince the Dursleys, but otherwise, the gamekeeper's intense loyalty would ensure the girl came to Hogwarts with certain useful preconceptions. So with an inner smile, he rose to calm his agitated Deputy Headmistress.

"Minerva, I am sure that this can remedied with ease. It is unfortunate, but it appears that Gwen's relatives have not properly explained things to her. I will, of course, immediately arrange for someone to go and explain things properly to young Ms. Potter, and we shall get this all sorted out."

"You'd better, Albus. I told you when we left her there that those people were the worst sort of muggle. If that little girl is not safe and sound at Hogwarts on September 1st, I am holding you _personally _responsible!" With that, Minerva McGonagall, still bristling like the cat she could become at will, spun around and stalked out of Dumbledore's office.

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair with a sigh, well aware of his deputy's thoughts on the matter. It was part of the reason that he had used legillimency to prevent Vernon from ever seriously injuring the child. Some light beating in this case would have not been as tragic as other cases, as it would all contribute to the betterment of the future, but losing Minerva's support so early on would be far more damaging than any minor benefits gained, so he had went ahead and tightened the restrictions within his mind, before erasing the memory of his visit. But it seems the Dursleys had still done their job, and the girl would most certainly be properly awed by a new, shining world of magic and wonders so different from her dull, loveless life up till then, as well as a kind, wise figure willing to offer praise and guidance. For now though, it was time to speak with Hagrid.

—

At Number 4, Privet Drive, each person was experiencing very different feelings at the moment. Vernon was pleasantly surprised by the _girl's _decision, and was feeling rather proud of the fact that, in his mind, it his family's influence that led to the _her _making the right decision for once. Petunia was feeling conflicted, still thinking on the words her… niece had spoken to her and her surprise response to the letter, as well as apprehensive. Her sister had spoken of the things _those people _could and would do to those who went against them, and she had a bad feeling that things were not going to go the way they wished. Dudley was just slightly confused by the sudden change in the general mood of the house, but he was to busy sneaking extra bacon from his distracted parents. And one Gwen Potter was comfortably asleep in the darkness of her cupboard, covered with the rather nice comforter she had felt it necessary for her aunt to buy for her, content in a dream of walking through an empty meadow under the light of a beautiful night sky, both unsullied by the pollution of humanity that was far, far away.

All of these things changed when three booming knocks resounded throughout the house.

**Hello everyone! Thank you so much to everyone who favorited or followed Anti-Social! Even though the alerts from my phone kept me up, I was very happy! The reviews are appreciated as well, and each one WILL be read, so leaving them is great, and will help everyone as I will likely get ideas and try to add things that are very popular, and will respond to some. In fact…**

**Leez brought up some points, which will interest everyone else as well I think. First off, we know her name! I hope everyone likes Gwen, short for Gwendolyn. Sounds like a sufficiently posh name to me, while having that handy short version. Secondly, manipulative Dumbledore (simply had to try this)! He isn't really evil, but he definitely wants to control the 'Chosen One'. I will try to write him realistically, with his methods and decisions progressing with explanations for the causes and any escalations. He will underestimate Gwen at first, as she is 11, but she isn't going to play too much pretend for him.**

**On pairings: Leez also asked if this could have femslash if there were any pairings. I was leaning towards a few male characters to possibly pair her with (after LOTS of struggling on the their part *evil grin*), but it can be done. I don't know if she will have a relationship with a female, but she will think that prejudice of that kind is another societal f*ck-up, and will harbor a particular disdain for people who think that way, so she will be willing to try at the very least. Will she? Depends on how things turn out. My views will shortly be up on my page if you want to see what I think, but feel free to share what you want. Don't want femslash? Tell me why. Do want it? Tell me why, and give me some names, cause I got nothing for that at the moment. If I do include it, I will warn people.**

**Anyways, Reviews really make me happy, and give inspiration as well as motivation. While I don't want flames, I wouldn't mind you politely telling me anything you think, and once again, I WILL read them all and respond to some, via PM or AN. Thanks all!**


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